Chapter 13

Vikram's POV " Why are you asking me??? Don't you know the answers to your questions?? " " No, I don't have any idea... " " Ok let me spell it out for you..." She looked at me with so much contempt. I almost got scared. " Yes, I avoided you. Yes, I am friendly with everyone except you. Yes, I have my reasons for not offering you any food. Yes, I sent food to you because that is my nature. I can't change it. I would have done it in anyone's case. But in your case, I didn't want you to get any more wrong ideas. You have already hurt me so much, I can't take more pain." She retorted I was shocked. " What did I do to you?? " " You were so prejudiced that you insulted me. You made fun of me, called me overweight and unattractive. You thought that my family and I were trying to trap a good husband just by sending food. You said that I am taking the saying very seriously that, A way to a man's heart goes through his stomach. You said, my sweetness and being nice with other people was just a plot to get a good husband. You said that I was pretending to be a perfect bride material. You said, all I could think of was food and that's why I was overweight. You said that I was trying to make you fall for my cooking so that you get married to me. You know what??? ... I HATE YOU... I HATE YOU " She glared at me and almost shouted. She started crying. I was shocked, I said all these things for the daughter of my mom's friend. Is Sandhya, the same girl??? But how?? And, I didn't know that my words could hurt someone so much. I just wanted my mom to forget about that crazy idea. I Was looking at her and she was crying. I didn't even know what should I do or say to calm her. " You crushed my heart with your sharp and acidic words. I just couldn't smile for at least a year and now you want me to smile at you? I wanted to get away from all the things, places and people who reminded me of the incident. I went into depression and did not even tell my parents. Do you even know or care, how worried they were for me? My grandfather was so worried, he kept asking me but I never told anyone. How could you say all that??? I never knew your mom or mine had any such thing in their mind... I was literally a child... I just loved cooking and whenever I cooked, I wanted everyone to taste it. I even gave food to all the poor workers in my house... do you think I wanted to marry their son too?? They were not wealthy like you... How could you say that I was trying to catch a wealthy husband? " She tried to push me again and this time, I had no strength in my body to say or do anything to stop her. I let her go and she said, " I never wanted to get married to you. In fact, I had no idea about it. I was not even thinking about getting married to anyone... and thanks to you, now I don't want to get married to anyone. Your words haunt me till date... I don't feel comfortable, any young man to tasting the food I made. I usually don't tell them, that I made it. Now that you know the answers to all your questions, please do not bother me in future. I don't want anything to do with you. Just stay away from me." She ran away, I kept standing there, like a statue. After some time, I came to my senses and came to the party and saw that she was with her friends. What have I done to an innocent girl?? What shall I do? I need to correct everything which I did wrong... ************* My parents live in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I usually go there only on vacation. Mr Vijay Pratap Rathore, my father is a very wealthy man. He has so much of ancestral property all over Rajasthan. We had many Havelis which he converted into heritage hotels and is running a profitable business out of them. My sister is doing hotel management. All these days, I missed all of them, but I avoided going home as they would have started that old argument again. My mom would again have tried to convince me to get married. I am so confused right now. With that, I also went down the memory lane. I still remember the whole incident. It is as clear as a movie to me. My mom had this crazy idea in her mind almost four years back. She had this crazy romantic idea that I should get married to the daughter of her best friend. I didn't know about it. One day I was sleeping when I heard someone laughing. I got up and looked outside. Some girl was sitting there with my parents. She was serving something to my parents and they praised her a lot. I was curious who she was, her back was facing me, then she got up to leave and I saw that she was an overweight girl. I didn't see her face. I Came out of my room and saw a few dishes were there. I was already hungry so I picked up a plate and took a helping of everything and tasted. Everything was delicious. My mom said, " So how is everything? " She had an unusual shine in her eyes. " Hmmm very good, delicious." " All this was made by the girl who just left. Did you saw her?" " No, I just came out. Who was she? " I asked casually while enjoying the food. " She is my best friend Padma's daughter. She is a very sweet, cute and kind girl. Always gets for us to try whenever she tries something new. We like her a lot. " Though I felt a bit weird as my mom was going ga-ga over her. But then I thought that it was not that important. The next day my mom came to my room and said that I should come to the living room as someone was about to come. She was very excited. I didn't want to meet anyone but didn't want to annoy mom so came to the living room. " Who is coming, mom?? Why are you behaving like this? Why are you over-excited?? " Sandy, the girl who came yesterday is coming again. She tried something new, she must be coming anytime. I want you to meet her and get to know her. Your dad and I, really like her. She is very sweet, caring, kind, beautiful and she is very nice. We think that she is a perfect girl for you and would love to have her as our daughter-in-law. " " What??? Mom, have you gone insane? I don't want to get married and least of all to her. How do expect me to marry her just because she is nice, Sweet, Cute... Or just cooks so well? I don't want to get married to some girl who can just cook and just think about food. Maybe that is the reason she is overweight... Did you not even noticed that she is overweight? How do you know that it a not a plot to get a good husband? All that good behaviour is just a pretence to convince you that she is a perfect bride material. Who keeps cooking all the time?? Who sends food to their friends almost every day???? Trust me she trying to trap a good wealthy husband. " " No, you are getting it wrong. " Mom said but I cut her sentence midway. " No mom, you are very naive and she might be taking advantage of that. I think she is taking that proverb very seriously that-- The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. That's why she is making new dishes every day and getting it here at our place, just to make me fall for her cooking and eventually for her. But this would have never happened in this lifetime. She would never be successful in getting what she is really after." I was saying to my mom. " And mom, I have a right to choose a perfect wife for myself and the girl you chose is definitely not perfect at all. All she can think about is food, she is some silly overweight girl. Every marriage has a physical aspect as well and I am not attracted to her at all. " I said my parents were just shocked. " I can't spend life with some stupid girl. I wanted a perfect bride. Who has to be beautiful, attractive, well educated, independent, witty intelligent, a bit aggressive yet kind and caring. Well, a long list of qualities. I know, but I wanted a perfect bride if I ever settle down." I was so angry that I don't even remember what I said. I didn't even mean all that. I just wanted my mom to leave that crazy idea of me getting married to her. All of a sudden we heard someone running out slamming the main door. We rushed outside to see that a tray full of food was kept there but no one was there. Oh, God !! Did she hear everything I said?? Though I was happy that she won't bother me any more, I felt bad as well, as I might have hurt her. My mom is still angry with me. Her relation with her friend must have suffered because of that. Well, mom has a right to get angry with me. And so does Sandhya. But, in my defence, I didn't know her then.